Repeat After Me

Chapter 1

'We call it the UUS down here,' Asten said. 'Unused Urban Spaces. It's a blank canvas.'

He shone his torch around the walls as we walked. 'You heard of Futuro 1500? He's old school. He knew the Marshall boys back in the day.'

I didn't know these people he was talking about, although I didn't say so. He seemed to expect that I would know.

'We've set up a studio in an old service station. You should come by one Friday night. These boys are pretty serious, they work in crews and stuff. I'm a lone rider myself. Always have been. But I like hanging out with them in the studio.' He talked fast, his words tripping over each other in an unexpected fashion, like they were darting out the door of his mouth at the same time. 'How long have you been painting?'

'I don't know. A year or so, maybe.'

'You seem young. High school?'

'Yep.'

'I'm 18. I couldn't wait to finish high school. My parents are from Taiwan. They always expected I'd go to uni. But as soon as I finished year 12 that was enough schooling for me.'

We came to a clearing and the path turned into a courtyard. In the moonlight, I could see paintings on the brick walls; a lady sitting on a milk crate with deer antlers, a boy holding a panda by the hand, there was a businessman with a briefcase throwing himself out of a window, a portrait of a lady in black and white and the words 'he never really new Me'.

'That's mine,' Asten said, pointing his torch towards a work. I stepped closer. It was impressive – at least two metres high, painted in bright primary colours. It was a strange looking boy with a pointy head playing with alphabet blocks that spelt out O-C-C-U-P-I-E-D.

'You painted that?' I said.

'Yep. In two hours.'

'Wow,' I said. My little stencil felt pathetic in comparison.

'It was such a buzz, you wouldn't believe it.'

'Something about it reminds me of Kandinsky.'

'Who?'

'The Russian artist. We learnt about him in art class last week.'

'Never heard of him. I never go to art galleries. They're all closed anyway now. Art's going to be changed forever. The streets are the only galleries open.' He flitted off to the left, taking his torch with him and I was left standing in darkness. 'Check this one out, it's new. I reckon it's an Ambivalent. This guy's so cool. Can you climb?' he asked.

'Huh?'

'Can you climb up that fence? I'll show you something awesome.' He helped push me up the wire fence. It was high and I wasn't enjoying the climb. 'Watch the barbed wire,' he called out. 'Lift your foot over and crawl onto the rooftop. It's easier than it looks.' I could feel myself shaking. I was wondering why I was going along with what this guy suggested. None of this had been a part of my plan tonight. The barbed wire looked sharp and threatening. I almost felt like crying for getting myself into this situation. Then, somehow, Asten stood up on the rooftop and he reached his hand down to help me. I paused, wondering if I should take it, he might have the virus. But then I grabbed his hand and he pulled me up safely.

'Nothing to it, yeah?'

'Sure,' I said, wishing I had a bottle of hand sanitiser.

'This one's a beauty,' he said. 'This is what I wanted you to see. My mate Kruler did it last year.' Asten shone his torch along the rooftop and I could see hundreds and hundreds of spray cans stacked in a long mound. They were all painted silver. 'He's called it "Ozone"', Asten said.

'It's mammoth.'

'They're all glued together, a few cans at a time. The guy's obsessive. He says it took ten months to complete. He kept it a secret. One night he asks us all to come up here. It was the biggest surprise because, like, he's really quiet and I'd always thought he lacked imagination. And then, bang, I see that he's done this. The guy's a legend. I'm a total fan now. You can see this thing on Google Earth.'

We sat down on a bench, admiring 'Ozone'. Asten turned his torch off. The sky was so clear we could see the smear of the Milky Way. The moon extended her fingers and tickled the stars and we held our breath in the twinkling city. A moment of content climbed the charts.

He yawned and said, 'I'm tired, let's go. There's a ladder we can go down. Don't worry, I won't make you attempt that barbed wire again.'

As we descended down a steel ladder on the other side of the rooftop, I wondered why we hadn't climbed up it before. Perhaps he was testing me. Maybe he wanted to see how brave I was.

'I'm going home,' I said.

'Do you want me to walk you somewhere?'

'Nup. Thanks for the tour. Bye.'

'Stay safe, hey!'